1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inflatable swimming supports, and more particularly, to a pneumatic swimming support having a first torus-shaped air chamber designed to fit around the upper arm of a user, and a second torus-shaped air chamber formed integrally with and interiorly of the first torus-shaped air chamber, and with inflation valves coupled to the chambers so as to allow the support to roll up the arm of the wearer.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the field of pneumatic swimming supports it has become common to provide inflatable air chambers sized and shaped to be placed around the upper arm of a wearer, normally a child. The air chambers are conventionally designed in the shape of a doughnut or torus, and they are conventionally fabricated of a thin plastic material which is impervious to both air and water. Such chambers include a standard valve and stem assembly for inflation and deflation purposes.
Pneumatic swimming supports have become widely used to aid children who have not yet developed the capacity to swim. Conventional pneumatic swimming supports, however, have many shortcomings. For example, conventional pneumatic swimming supports are normally constructed of a single air chamber. Such construction is fundamentally dangerous in that if a leak ever develops all buoyancy is lost. A child could drown.
Some pneumatic swimming supports attempt to overcome the single-chamber problem by designs which utilize two separate inflatable chambers coupled together into a common single support. Such designs provide for added emergency buoyancy in the event of a leak in one chamber. Such designs, however, require that the chambers are inflated only after the pneumatic swimming support has been positioned on the wearer's arm. Nowhere in the prior art is there disclosed, taught or suggested a multi-chamber pneumatic swimming support which may be first inflated and then positioned on the wearer by rolling the inflated support up the arm of the wearer.
The background art discloses a number of techniques for improving upon the conventional pneumatic swimming support technology. Consider for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,252 to Bauermeister. According to the Bauermeister disclosure, a swimming support in the form of an inflatable ring is provided with an additional separate buoyant member located within the ring. The separate buoyant member may also be inflatable. Note the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. In such embodiment, the interior air chamber is coupled to the exterior air chamber only through a valve, an ineffective construction. Further, the valves are not spaced along the length of the opening for the wearer's arm. Rolling on the pre-inflated pneumatic swimming support is thus impractical. Lastly, when the first or exterior air chamber is inflated, it is impossible to determine simply by observation whether or not the second or interior air chamber is inflated, a dangerous situation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,179 to Maertin, there is disclosed a pneumatic swimming support constructed of two tubular air chambers joined along their common circumference. The two air chambers of each pneumatic swimming support function totally independently of each other. Although their two valves are spaced along the length of the opening for the wearer's arm, the rolling on of pre-inflated pneumatic swimming support is impossible.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,788 to Markwitz, like Maertin, also discloses pneumatic swimming supports with each pneumatic swimming support being constructed of two tubular air chambers joined along a common axial extent. As in Maertin, the two air chambers function totally independent of each other. Their two valves are spaced along the circumference of the opening for the wearer's arm. Because of the construction, the rolling on of pre-inflated pneumatic swimming supports is impossible.
As illustrated in these prior patents as well as in commercial devices, efforts are continuously being made in an attempt to provide an inflatable swimming support which employs a safe, two chamber buoyant construction, yet at the same time lends itself to easy placement upon and removal from the arm of a child. None of these previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the present invention. Additionally, prior art inflatable swimming supports do not suggest the present inventive combination of component elements arranged and configured as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to fabricate, and by employing only readily available materials.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inflatable swimming support adapted to be worn upon the upper arm of a user, the support comprising a major continuous and closed, torus-shaped air chamber formed of fluid-impervious, flexible material, the major air chamber forming a tubular central arm opening therethrough; a minor continuous and closed, torus-shaped air chamber formed of a strip of fluid-impervious, flexible material, the strip being heat sealed to the material of the major air chamber interiorly along two concentric circular lines and forming a central arm opening therethrough; a first valve extending through the material of the major chamber in fluid communication with the major air chamber for the selective inflation and deflation thereof; and a second valve extending through the material of the major chamber in fluid communication with the minor air chamber independent of the major air chamber for the selective inflation and deflation of the minor air chamber, the first and second valve being located in spaced relationship along the length of the central arm opening.
It is another object of the present invention to employ a pair of cooperable air chambers for pneumatic swimming supports for greater safety.
It is another object of the invention to promote the usage of pneumatic swimming supports which may be inflated off of the wearer and then rolled onto a wearer's arm.
Lastly, it is an object of the present invention to improve pneumatic swimming supports by making them both easier to put on and safer to use.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.